One of the most important players in basketball this season doesn’t even average 15 points per game. One of the most important players on a record-setting team doesn’t really stand out amongst his teammates if you were to just gander at the stats. Yet, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors has been the team’s spark plug throughout the season.
Green is averaging 13.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks this season while shooting 48.0 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from deep, and 66.9 percent from the charity stripe. Lost in all the luster of his all-around sensationalism is that Green is the team’s source of unwavering energy. Where Stephen Curry is the team’s best player, Green is their voice.
From Sam Amick of USA Today:
The always-outspoken 25-year-old is the Warriors’ emotional leader — the heartbeat of the team, as Kerr deemed him last season – but that intensity can be a hindrance, too. There’s a line there that he’ll likely straddle from time to time, and one that Kerr has been well aware of from the start.
Draymond is a special player, there are no two ways about it. Sometimes his emotions can get the best of him, but emotions are a good thing out of a player a lot of the time. It shows they’re engaged and care. Green most certainly cares, and no one can really deny or debate that prevailing thought.
While Curry might get all the accolades throughout the season while the Warriors march towards their second straight championship, it’ll be Green who supplies the lifeblood that the team needs. He’s the heartbeat of the team, as Steve Kerr puts it, and that beat won’t ever stop as long as he’s on the court.